More Californians Unaffiliated With Political Parties

More and more Californians are opting not to register with a political party.

Nearly 500-thousand more Californians are registered as decline-to-state than at this time in 2003. That’s up three percent. And it means close to a fifth of registered voters are now unaffiliated with a party. That’s according to the latest figures from Secretary of State Debra Bowen. Overall, roughly 43 percent of registered voters are Democrats, and 34 percent are Republican. Voter registration across the state is actually down a bit since 2003, if you take population growth into account. In a statement, Bowen says some of that is due to better management of the voting rolls, but she still calls the drop troubling. She says the excitement surrounding the early presidential primary should drive those numbers up. January 22 is the last day to register to vote in the February election.